A View From Riverside Drive
Commentary by Ed Hynes
July 2005
From liberty to license, the trail from Philadelphia
In Philadelphia two hundred and twenty-nine years ago, 56 "Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions," declared that "these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States."
At the end of the Declaration of Independence, we find this: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
This was not mere rhetoric. At the signing, Benjamin Franklin warned his fellow patriots that losing the war for independence could lead to their executions for treason against the English King. Franklin put it to them this way: "We must all hang together, or we shall surely all hang separately." They could be signing their own death warrants. They signed anyway, risking all for the sake of their liberty, and ours. American men and women of honor fought and died for liberty in that war and in those that have followed.
One of today's sons of liberty sent his family a note from Iraq the other day, writing not of the mortal dangers all around him but of the ordinary hardships of military service in that country, mostly the heat. "I know the east coast can get hot and humid, but try this heat with 48 pounds of body armor and about 25 pounds of other stuff hanging off your body. Please do not take this as complaining. I am not." He sounded like the stoic men of Valley Forge, whose hardships were cold and hunger in that winter of 1777-78.
That soldier in Iraq used e-mail via the Internet for his message home. Even as he was doing that, others were using the Internet to feed and promote the global trade in human bodies for sexual purposes, in the flesh and on tape. These traffickers, pimps and pornographers have traveled the road from cherished liberty to ruinous license.
Porn Valley promotes brutalization of women and children
The hardcore porn racketeers of the San Fernando Valley in California and elsewhere produce videos that are nothing less than training manuals for the brutalization of women and children.
That is no overstatement, as a sampling of their e-mail promotions makes clear. Here are a few that were recorded by Morality in Media at its ObscenityCrimes.Org web site, which is a referral point to the Justice Department for citizen complaints about Internet porn.
HOT YOUNG TEENS WITH DOGS, HORSES, COWS, CHICKEN, SHEEP, SNAKES, AND MORE
NEXT TIME YOU NEED A LEAK, DON'T USE A URINAL, USE A URINAL SLUT. . . THE ORIGINAL HUMAN PISS TROUGH
RAPED SCHOOL GIRLS. . . VIRGIN GIRLS RAPED. . . RAPE AN INNOCENT GIRL
EXPLOITED BITCHES
SOMETIMES EVEN THE SWEETEST GIRLS CAN REALLY BE DISGUSTING BITCHES
WATCH HOW BEAUTIFUL WOMEN ARE HELD DOWN BY FORCE, HUMILIATED AND DEGRADED
REAL FAMILY INCEST SITE. . . THE BEST INCEST SITE IN THE ADULT WEB
BARELY LEGAL TEENS IN LIVE SEX SHOWS. . . INNOCENT BABYSITTERS. . . YOUNG SLUTS
TEEN TOILET SEX. . . RAPE & TORTURE PORN. . . SCAT TEEN BONDAGE
Well-meaning private and public officials wring their hands and do what they can with the damage, trying to keep track of the 500,000 convicted sex offenders in the United States, to care for the victims of assault and the children of divorce, to rescue trafficked women from brothels, to stop the spread of AIDS, and to help parents shield themselves and their children with Internet filters that are not up to the job.
To fight off this tsunami of sex, we need to stop the traffic in hardcore pornography. Pornography creates an addiction to sexual gratification devoid of romantic love, an addiction that begins with so-called soft-core porn, escalates to unspeakable depravity, and, so long as the addiction goes unchecked, can never be satisfied. We can curb traffic in hardcore pornography by vigorously enforcing the obscenity laws, under which the sale and distribution of hardcore pornography is illegal. So, to stop the tsunami, stop the porn; enforce the obscenity laws.
'Is it technically an addiction?' You bet
KETV 7 in Omaha reported May 23 on the addictive behavior of a man who "said he went from Playboy, to videos, to online porn, to jail." Along the way, he became involved sexually with several women, divorced his wife, and was convicted of rape. KETV asked, "But is it technically an addiction? Scientists are trying to determine that by scanning the brain. The areas that are stimulated by pornography light up in what is called the brain reward pathway. That's where the chemical dopamine is released when someone experiences pleasure. It's the same 'feel-good' chemical that can lead to drug addiction."
Experts testify on the science behind pornography addiction
In the United States Senate last November, the Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space heard expert testimony on the addictive nature of pornography.
Judith Reisman, Ph.D., president of the Institute for Media Education, gave this striking description of the science of porn addiction and its consequences:
Thanks to the latest advances in neuroscience, we now know that pornographic visual images imprint and alter the brain, triggering an instant, involuntary, but lasting, biochemical memory trail. . . And once new neurochemical pathways are established they are difficult or impossible to delete.
Pornographic images also cause secretion of the body's "fight or flight" sex hormones. This triggers excitatory transmitters and produces non-rational, involuntary reactions; intense arousal states that overlap sexual lust - now with fear, shame, and/or hostility and violence. Media erotic fantasies become deeply imbedded, commonly coarsening, confusing, motivating and addicting many of those exposed. Pornography triggers myriad kinds of internal, natural drugs that mimic the "high" from a street drug. Addiction to pornography is addiction to what I dub erototoxins -- mind-altering drugs produced by the viewer's own brain. . . .
Pornography psychopharmacologically imprints young brains. . . Moreover, the mainstreaming of pornography since the 1950's directly coincides with the unprecedented explosion in sexual disease and a huge, exponential increase in new types of pornographic copycat sex crimes by and to juveniles and adults. Such facts should inform the legal arguments about free speech versus pornography. . .
Mary Anne Layden, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program, Center for Cognitive Therapy at the University of Pennsylvania, testified:
Pornography, by its very nature, is an equal opportunity toxin. It damages the viewer, the performer, and the spouses and the children of the viewers and the performers. It is toxic mis-education about sex and relationships. It is more toxic the more you consume, the "harder" the variety you consume and the younger and more vulnerable the consumer. . .
For the viewer, pornography increases the likelihood of sexual addiction and they respond in ways similar to other addicts. Sexual addicts develop tolerance and will need more and harder kinds of pornographic material. They have escalating compulsive sexual behavior becoming more out of control and also experience withdrawal symptoms if they stop the use of the sexual material. . . Research also indicates and my clinical experience supports that 40% of sex addicts will lose their spouse, 58% will suffer severe financial losses, and 27-40% will lose their job or profession. . . . Research indicates that even non-sex addicts will show brain reactions on PET scans while viewing pornography similar to cocaine addicts looking at images of people taking cocaine. This material is potent, addictive and permanently implanted in the brain.
Those who use pornography. . . are more likely to go to prostitutes, engage in domestic violence, stranger rape, date rape, and incest. . . pornographic videos reinforced by the orgasm say that all these behaviors are normal, acceptable, common and don't hurt anyone. . .
My clinical experience indicates that the spouses of porn viewers are often depressed, and are more likely to have eating disorders, body image disorders and low self-esteem. These wives can't function in the fake sexual world in which their husbands live. . .
The children also show the damage. As pornography becomes normalized, it is left around the house. Children can get exposed to it. These are tender minds that are just developing their conceptualizations of sex. . . This increases the likelihood of early sexual experience and with it, the increasing risk of pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases. . .
There are no studies and no data that indicate a benefit from pornography use. If there were a benefit, then pornography users, pornography performers, their spouses and their children would show the most benefit. Just the opposite is true. The society is awash in pornography and so in fact the data is in. If pornography made us healthy, we would be healthy by now.
A tale of four cities
In Brooklyn, Charlotte, Washington and Oakland, dealing with prostitution and sexually oriented businesses has made news recently.
Brooklyn: In May, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes closed the Sweet Cherry Topless Entertainment Bar in the Sunset Park neighborhood, and arrested five people connected with the bar on drug, prostitution and rape charges.
"The bar is the subject of disturbing allegations concerning drug sales, prostitution and underage strippers. It is a blight on the neighborhood," said the prosecutor.
The arrests were applauded by neighborhood officials. City Councilmember Sara M. Gonzalez, who represents Sunset Park, said, "I am gravely concerned about all of the illicit activity that is part and parcel of the pornography industry on Second and Third Avenue in Sunset Park, as well as in all of the 38th City Council District and the city as a whole. As a member of the Women's Issues Committee of the City Council, and a mother and grandmother, I will always be opposed to the pornography establishments in our neighborhoods, not only because they bring drugs and prostitution, but because they are essentially anti-woman and anti-family."
But the New York Times (May 8, 2005) reported, "Sex shop employees say there is no link between their businesses and prostitution. 'There are no prostitutes at all in this area,' said Roy Peris, who has worked at an adult video store at 29th Street and Third Avenue for three years."
What can you expect from a porn dealer but a denial?
Charlotte: The Rocky Mount (NC) Telegram reported July 1 that men arrested in Charlotte for soliciting prostitutes may be able to get their cases dismissed if they complete a "john school" course of classes on sexually transmitted diseases, addiction and respect for women. The new program is available for first-time offenders only.
Also in Charlotte: Police are reported to have forced prostitutes off the streets of one neighborhood with so much success - crime there is said to be down 30 percent - that they want to expand the prostitution-free zone to other areas. WSOC-TV reported July 1 that 27 prostitutes and johns have been arrested.
Washington: The Associated Press reported June 30 that a plan to create prostitution-free zones has been attacked by critics concerned "that it would endanger sex workers' health, safety and civil liberties." An ACLU spokesman said such "exclusion zones" might be unconstitutional. A health counselor warned that the plan would force sex workers to operate in unsafe parts of town.
Oakland: City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente has prepared five billboards designed to display photos of men arrested for soliciting prostitution, with the large-type warning, "How much clearer do we have to make it? Don't 'john' in Oakland." The Fremont (CA) Argus story noted that "De La Fuente and Councilmember Jean Quan said they are committed to reducing the number of 11- to 14-year-old girls working as prostitutes in Oakland. Authorities believe their ranks have increased tremendously in the past 18 months."
Porn-free hotels attract business in Sweden and the U.S.
In Sweden, where deterring johns has been shown to reduce prostitution, the women's refuge organization ROKS has published a catalog of almost 500 hotels that have discontinued pornographic movies on their in-room TV rental systems.
Citizens for Community Values in Cincinnati maintains a directory of "clean hotels" in the United States, reachable at www.cleanhotels.com.
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